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Unlocking new opportunities for potential partnerships

ARAB NEWS|Published — Thursday 4 February 2016

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COLOMBO: The Sri Lanka Investment and Business Conclave 2016 is scheduled to take place from March 8 to 10 at the Cinnamon Grand Colombo.

The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce in association with the Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Board of Investment of Sri Lanka, Department of Commerce, Sri Lanka Export Development Board, Sri Lanka Convention Bureau (SLCB) and the Commonwealth Businesswomen’s Network will be organizing the event.The conclave offers the perfect blend of opportunities aimed at enriching institutional, corporate and individual investors and business houses with a comprehensive set of guidelines for their investment decisions, and act as a networking opportunity for introductions to potential overseas business partners with a view of establishing partnerships/investments in Sri Lanka. The conclave will be promoted with the support of the Sri Lanka High Commissions/embassies located overseas and 120 Chambers of Commerce around the world. The Sri Lanka Investment and Business Conclave 2016 will be inaugurated on March 8 followed by a strategic networking event, facilitating participants to directly network with senior ministers and officials attached to various Government Institutions in addition to participants from various other countries. On March 9, there will be two high level panel discussions on Unlocking New Opportunities for Potential Partnerships and Strategies of Attracting Business Partnerships and Investments in Sri Lanka — followed by B2B and G2B business matchmaking sessions. On March 10, organizers will facilitate overseas delegates to visit export processing zones, port of Colombo and the Colombo Stock Exchange etc. as per their interest. Investments for the private sector including foreign companies is set to become easier in 2016 as the Board of Investment (BOI) plans a host of new methods including public — private partnerships for dozens of investment zones, reforms and liberalising land ownership. The government of Sri Lanka is targeting 45 economic zones to be developed with private sector partnerships. The BOI will provide land and the investors have to build infrastructure facilities, which will be done under a special joint venture project vehicle to attract investment.The major sectors that received FDI in 2015 were manufacturing at $199 million, followed by tourism at $161 million, housing and property development with $116 million, telecommunications at $93 million and port development activities with $ 51 million. Major FDI sourcing countries include Hong Kong $167 million, Mauritius $76 million, Netherlands $69 million and China $66 million as per the data received from the BOI.Sri Lanka has invested heavily to develop infrastructure such as port, road network, additional airports and telecommunication facilities in recent times. With the educated and adaptable workforce and fast developing Infrastructure, it has become a growing economic hub with favorable policies for investors around the world. In addition, new urbanization initiatives with new opportunities for investment have open doors for potential investors to set up joint ventures in Sri Lanka. It boasts for being one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the region including strong policies in place for protecting international investors and business partners ensuring high quality of life for foreign investors.The recently announced Budget 2016 of the government of Sri Lanka, many attractive facilities will be provided to investors to setup joint ventures in Sri Lanka. Changed policies and regulations will be announced and discussed at the panel discussions of the senior ministers of the government of Sri Lanka on the second day of the event on March 9. Focus sectors for investment includes agriculture, apparel, education, export manufacturing, export services, infrastructure, knowledge services, tourism and leisure, power and energy, telecommunications and related services, ports development, distribution of petroleum related products such as LPG and LNG and recycling of waste etc.Invest-srilanka.lk web site was launched recently to promote the event among foreign and local potential parties. Further details available on Tel. +9411-5588818 or +9411-5588800